


Time is against us.

by IceBreeze



Category: All For the Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Victorian, Arranged Marriage, Drabble, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, The Queen and The Guardian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-30 05:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6410101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceBreeze/pseuds/IceBreeze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An arranged marriage can change everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time is against us.

**Author's Note:**

> For anon prompt: 'I can't do this.'
> 
> I’m sorry that this turned out into a mess? (This is what happens when you try to do a Victorian AU when you completely and utterly failed at history. I am also fairly sure they are ooc, but I hope you like).
> 
>  
> 
> [Please send me a prompt and I'll write something for you!](http://polyhymina.tumblr.com/ask)

“I can’t do this. I can’t marry someone else when I love you.”

Renee squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to ward away the tears, to keep her composure because if she broke, then she would only make it harder for Allison when it was something neither of them could control. It wasn’t their fault. All they had done was fall in love, and what was wrong with that? Why couldn’t they love each other like any other couple?

_(They couldn’t help being in love and they wouldn’t want to)._

And yet the world chose to spit on them, for Allison’s parents had found out about their relationship and took it upon themselves to do everything in their power to keep them apart. So they chose to arrange a marriage between Allison and the well established Lord Gordon, whose estate just so happened to be in the country a great many miles away, making it difficult for them to see each other without a very long journey.

And it hurt Renee to know this- it felt like her heart was being torn apart- but she had to be strong, because Allison was the one being forced into marriage. Allison was the one being made to move faraway where she would see no-one but her husband. Allison was the one she had to care for at the moment, because if she didn’t, no-one would. So she smiled through her watering eyes and said:

“No matter what happens, I will always love you. Nothing will change that. And I’m sure Lord Gordon will be a good man who will care for you, so you will never be alone.”

And though she tried so hard to hold herself together, she was sure Allison could see the cracks clearly. They spent their last night together holding each other tightly in hopes that they would never have to let go.

_(If only their prayers had been heard)._

Allison looked beautiful as she walked down the aisle, head held high in sheer determination to not let anyone see her break, and when she kissed Gordon, it became painful for Renee to hold onto her smile. But Allison’s eyes met hers, pain clear where she had only wanted to ever see happiness, so she forged through it until it was just her and Dan, and finally- finally she could let the tears fall.

 _(It hurt, it hurt,_ it hurt).

She didn’t get to say goodbye to Allison before she was gone, and it wasn’t long before she had to deal with her own marriage because ‘it was unacceptable for a lady of her age to be unwed.’ So she married Lord Minyard, which turned out to be a lucky union. They didn’t love each other (she was well aware of his relationship with Lord Josten, who was their neighbour, and Minyard knew all about Allison), but they were friends and that was all she wanted.

_(She knew she’d never love another person, not while she had Allison)._

Though they couldn’t see each other, they made sure to write to each other as often as possible, to keep each other informed on how their lives are going and how much they miss the other. She wrote of how she loves her forever and always, of how Minyard is a nice enough man- and so is his lover- and she is glad that, if she had to marry, it was with someone she could be friends with. In turn, Allison wrote of how Gordon is a good man despite how often they fight, of how she is due a child and how, though she loves Gordon, her love for Renee remains unchanged and she will rip apart anyone who thinks they can stop that. It was easy to tell that, despite all the struggles, Allison was happy and that was enough for Renee.

_(As long as she was happy, it was all okay)._

But then Allison’s letter stop coming and there is no word from her for weeks until, one day, she receives a letter in the mail that is not by Allison’s hand, but from one of her servants and her heart drops as the growing worry is proven right. It details that the two of them had been in a crash that had killed Seth and caused Allison to go into premature labour and have a miscarriage. It spoke of how she was still alive but she may as well have not bee, for she wouldn’t eat or speak and every passing day caused her to waste away bit by tiny bit.

_(”I don’t know how much longer she’ll last, ma’am. We fear there may is nothing we can do to save her.”)_

Within minutes she was in the carriage after a brief word to Minyard and she rushed there as fast as the horses could go. It took much longer than she would have liked, and when she arrived the anxious servants brought her to a room where Allison lay, unmoving and the sight made her heart constrict, because she was barely recognizable from the Allison she knew.

_(Strong, warm and dazzling, with a smile that could part crowds)._

She was dangerously thin, stare vacant and empty as though she was dead inside and she didn’t respond to anything around her. It was terrifying to see and she struggled not to panic because it was like she’d lost her, that she was already gone from this world and there was nothing they could to do save her, and there was nothing more terrifying than the idea of losing her. But she managed to get Allison in the carriage and to their estate, where she enlisted Nurse Betsy’s help.

_(Betsy was the only nurse Minyard trusted and she would cling to that as proof that she could save her, because she couldn’t lose her. She wouldn’t)._

It took a long time and a great deal of patience, but slowly, it began to help. Allison began eating again and, eventually, she was smiling and talking. Every passing day brought her closer to recovery until, one day, she was like it had never happened.

_(But it had, and she remembered everything. She remembered what they were going to call their child and how happy he’d been when she’d told him. She remembered how he’d tried to shield her when their carriage collided with another and the way she felt empty when the doctor told she hadn’t been able to bring her child into this world alive._

_She remembered everything, but she was still able to live)._

Renee and Allison’s relationship continued like the distance had never happened and they relished in the fact that they could finally see each other, to see and touch and share in life as they were never able to when apart. They were happy at last and felt like nothing would ever stop that. But then Allison’s parent’s, upon learning of her recovery, began to push for her to remarry and it seemed like they would be separated once more. And it hurt more, this time, because they’d already lost each other before and to go through that again would likely break them.

_(”I’ll never let go of you, no matter what.”)_

To their surprise, it was Josten who offered a solution that worked well for both couples (for people were getting suspicious as to why an unmarried man spent so much time at the Minyard’s home). And so Allison and Josten were wed, and she was able to stay beside Renee.

_(At last)._

Josten and Allison got along well, and though she and Minyard didn’t interact, they didn’t antagonize each other either (at least, not openly). There was nothing suspicious about two married couples spending alot of time around each others houses and even if there was, they wouldn’t suspect the truth (what? The wives having an affair together, whilst the husbands are as well? Preposterous! You need to cut back on the whiskey Kevin), so nobody tried interfere in their lives again. And though their lives weren’t perfect (they couldn’t let others know of their love, they would still have to have children and hide when they’d rather scream it to the world), they were happy. And that’s all that mattered.

_(Because, in the end, the only people who needed to know they were in love was themselves)._

**Author's Note:**

> Can be found on [tumblr.](http://polyhymina.tumblr.com/writings)


End file.
